The invention relates to valve arrangement comprising several valve clusters belonging to mutually different flow rate categories, said flow rate categories being designed for handling different nominal flow rates, said valve clusters respectively having a valve base with internal fluid valve base ducts and internal electrical signal transmission means, wherein on said valve bases several component mounting sites are present which are arranged adjacent to each other in the direction of a principal axis, such component mounting sites having an elongated outline with a longitudinal axis extending in a transverse direction, at a right angle to the principal axis, of the valve base, and on said component mounting sites a respective valve unit is mounted or is able to be mounted, said valve units having a fluid distribution portion and an electrically operated control portion controlling the fluid flow through the fluid distribution portion, the control portion occupying a control section of the component mounting site where it is connected by way of electrical interface means with the signal transmission means and the fluid distribution portion occupies a fluid distribution portion of the component mounting site and at this position is connected by way of fluid interface means with the valve base ducts, the valve bases belonging to valve clusters of different flow rate categories having different transverse dimensions and for their fluid distribution sections having mounting sites of different length wherein on said valve bases being mounted valve units whose fluid distribution portions are of different length to obtain different sizes of nominal flow rates.
A valve arrangement of this type described in the German patent publication De 43 12 730 A1 is designed in the form of a valve station, in which two valve clusters are collected together which belong to different flow rate categories since they are designed for different nominal flow rates. Each valve cluster comprises a modularly designed valve base which mounts several electrically operated valve units. The valve units are mounted on component sites placed alongside each other in the direction of a principal axis of the respective valve base, said sites extending athwart the principal axis, said sites furthermore being divided up in a fluid distribution section and a control section. At the control section, by way of electrical interface means, there is an electrical connection between individual control portions and signal transmission means extending in the interior of the associated valve base. At the fluid distribution section a fluid distribution valve of the valve unit is connected by way of fluid interface means with internal valve base ducts. The different nominal flow rates are due to different lengths and different widths of the valve units and to valve bases, which have different transverse and height dimensions and on which control mounting sites with different widths are provided. Due to a different configuration of the control portions different electrical interface means are also required. Accordingly in all the design and manufacturing complexity needed to produce valve clusters with different flow rate categories. is quite substantial
In the European patent publication EP 1 026 430 B1 there is a description of a modularly designed valve cluster which at the same time is contrived with valve units intended for different nominal flow rates. The different nominal flow rates are in this case again due to different width dimensions of the valve units.